Chapter 10
A thunderous clap of teen girl laughter rolled down from Lily’s room upstairs, loud enough that I paused at the first step.
I chewed my bottom lip in thought. The pain of breaking up with Virgil was dripping inside the cavern of my chest. I’d held it together in front of him, but as soon as I was alone in my bedroom again, it had been safe to let the emotions out, and I’d spent much of the afternoon crying, then stitched myself back together for dinner with the family.
Amanda screamed, and Lily cackled, and as nice as it was that they were so close and inseparable, I needed some quiet. I spun around to go to the front door instead, peering into the living room where Subin was expertly peeling a peach picked from the tree in the backyard to share with Nico.
“I’ll be outside. Fresh air.”
Nico hopped off the couch with a grunt and came closer for a quiet question.
“You alright, Fallon? Seemed a bit down today. And you didn’t eat much tonight.
” After the sweet and serious concern, he added, “And I know it’s not ‘cause you don’t like my grilled chicken.
Usually can’t keep you from scarfing it all down. ”
“No, no, it was good as always, Nico,” I laughed. “I’m fine, thanks. I broke it off with Virgil today. And I’ll be going back home, and I’ll miss all of you, you know?” I spoke a little too fast trying to skid over the Virgil news.
“Oh, Fallon, I’m sorry to hear that,” he said quietly so that his wife couldn’t hear it, and even if he didn’t like me dating Virgil, he was truly pained for me. I didn’t deserve the Hopes.
“I’ll be alright. Always am.” I had to be. I jerked my head to the front door and smiled, and he understood. When it came to giving space, Nico always understood.
I went outside into the early June evening, the sun just a glow on the orange horizon, and took a deep breath of the dry ranch air.
I’d miss it. June bugs were out now, bumping recklessly into anything that was in their path, and the early rains we’d gotten that week meant the toads were coming out, too, and had plenty to eat.
I watched the ground in front of my feet to make sure I didn’t step on any of them.
Amanda had had a meltdown last summer when her clomping boot had come down on a baby toad near the steps, leaving it flat and lifeless.
Her tearful screeching at Nico for laughing at it could have woken the dead.
I had to go back home to the Hunter Land soon.
I’d planned on going back a couple weeks ago, and then I’d agreed to push it off for the gala, and then my shoulder had been tweaked in that vamp attack, and now my breakup had my chest feeling hollow and leaky and not in the best condition to face the trials.
Excuses were piling up, and they were starting to feel like avoidance, like maybe I’d never really go back.
I lifted the big metal door of the barn where the Hopes stored feed, equipment, and the two four-wheeler vehicles used to traverse the vast ranch land.
My shoes rang up the metal staircase to the loft, even when I took them slowly.
There wasn’t much stored up there besides two stacks of plastic tubs labeled “Christmas” and some of Gabriel’s camping supplies.
Derrick had fondly told me the story long ago about the summer he and Fenton had lived up here as teenagers.
The green sleeping bags were still rolled up on a shelf, dusty from lack of use.
I could make it into a space for Fenton to hang out while he was here.
“Fallon?” a voice whispered from the open doorway of the barn, and there he was. I should have probably been more surprised than I was at him sneaking up on me.
“Hey, Fenton.” It was a loaded greeting, sharp around the edges. He probably didn’t deserve to be the target of frustration, but he made it easy and never complained. I held onto the railing of the loft and looked down on him, which he found amusing.
“What are you doing up there?” he asked. He wore a brick-red flannel over his black pants and t-shirt, and I didn’t know how he could stand it. Even with the sun down, the air was a hot blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
“Would you hate staying up here while you’re watching my family?” I winced to convey how aware I was that it wasn’t ideal.
“You’re not going to budge on me staying in your bedroom?” His eyes twinkled from his spot in the barn down below, his head tilted all the way back.
“You’re not getting in the house.”
He laughed, cute and mischievous, then took the stairs up, stomping on them like it was his goal to be as loud as possible. He didn’t enjoy regaining his height advantage for long, as he sat in a pile of long limbs in the empty space of the loft.
“Can you at least give me your blanket to make it worthwhile?” he asked, then jerked his head to me. “And don’t wash it.”
“Peter.” I wrinkled my nose, but he just looked at me with wide, innocent eyes.
Jerk. What made it worse was that I felt like the bad guy, considering what he’d done for me.
Even just the thought of it made my throat tighter.
He’d likely saved my life against that vampire.
I sat across from him with my legs crossed and bit down on my embarrassment. “Thank you for last night.”
He rolled his shoulders back and beamed with pure happiness. “Just glad I happened to be in the neighborhood. You know, I spotted a beautiful woman wearing my favorite color, and all of a sudden a vampire was coming at her to ruin her night, and I couldn’t let that happen.”
I raised an eyebrow at his version of events. At least he didn’t actually believe it. “Well, thank you. Good thing I’m heading off to get my powers. I can’t keep letting you rescue me. It’s starting to get embarrassing to be a Hunter getting saved by a vampire.”
Fenton might have actually been close to bursting from happiness. It was infectious, like being warmed by a bonfire even from a few feet away.
“Your boy didn’t look too happy about it all.” Fenton wore a catlike grin, but I let it slide. Honestly, I’d been expecting much more bragging and even more insults aimed at Virgil.
“He wasn’t,” I agreed. I met Fenton’s eyes, hoping he could read in between the lines, so I didn’t have to say it out loud again.
Virgil and I had broken up. I looked down at the dusty metal again, making a mental note to give it a good cleaning before I left.
The space wasn’t ideal, but I would make it as comfortable as possible.
Hell, I was really going to leave him my blanket if it made him happy.
I’d give more thought later to that “unwashed” request. Vampires, I thought with concerning fondness.
Fenton’s sudden suck of air brought my attention back up to him. “I got you a gift. To thank you for…” The battle in his eyes was brief, and it was hardly a surprise which side of him won out when his smile was so wicked. “For choosing me over your man.”
A necklace chain hung around his wrist, where his hand was tucked into the flannel.
I took it and held it up to examine the pendant, silver and diamond, shaped with points like a twinkling star.
It was a touching gift, and I wanted to ask why he’d chosen it for me, but reality pulled away at the romance.
“Where did you get this, Fenton?”
“Jordan Jewelers.” His eyes crinkled from the intensity of his fangy grin.
I sighed, doing the math in my head. A necklace without a case from a small local jeweler? “Did you pay for it?”
He snorted. “Course not. I'm a vampire.”
I held the necklace back out to him. “Take it back.”
“You don't want it?” His hurt puppy dog eyes nearly made me feel bad for not accepting his stolen trinket.
“Take it back to the jewelry store.”
“You don't like it? It's real silver, like you prefer. Burned my damn fingers getting it.” He pulled his flannel sleeve over his fingers to safely grab the metal chain, then slipped it into his shirt pocket.
“I don’t want something that’s been stolen. I appreciate the effort, but I’ll consider it a gift when you return what you stole.”
He growled and took a small spiral notebook out of his back pocket. “Do you have a pen?”
“What’s that?” I asked, and he pressed it to his chest. I leaned forward, pressing my hand just above his knee to balance myself.
The touch distracted him, just as I’d hoped.
“What is that, Fenton?” I snatched it from him, and he spluttered his annoyance.
It was my turn to gloat next. “So much for vampire reflexes, huh?”
I fell back to a sitting position and opened the notebook. His handwriting wasn’t as messy as I’d been expecting, and so I could take the list in with a quick sweep.
Killing humans (good humans?)
Cigarettes
Following
Ranch
5 texts per day/2 calls per week
Destruction of property
Violence (sometimes?)
Sex talk
Sex with others?
Drinking from girls??
“What’s this? A list of your favorite activities?” I laughed.
He took back the notebook, his expression a cloudy pout. Was he embarrassed? I couldn’t recall ever seeing Fenton embarrassed about anything.
“They’re my rules.” He sounded so human. Vampire, a voice reminded me. I studied him long enough that his diverted gaze returned to me, guarded.
“Rules for what?”
You know what, his eyes screamed, and then he rolled them.
“No pen?” he asked.
I didn’t have one on me, but I stood — awkwardly, and favoring one side, as my shoulder still ached — and went down the stairs.
I grabbed a dusty pen off the workbench and checked it with a black line in the flesh between my thumb and index finger before I went back up, my feet light and fast, mostly out of curiosity.
I sat right beside him this time, offering the pen.
He muttered a thanks, then flipped his notebook back open to the first page, where he added one more thing to his list — Stealing.
I shouldn’t have been moved, and I blamed it on everything else that was happening in my life.
Stealing, violence, killing others, it was all such basic human logic.
Vampire, that voice said again. A vampire who was trying to be good, all on his own.
For me, a darker voice whispered. I was going to have to work on getting control of my thoughts if I was going to last even a week back home with the Hunters.
“Alright, get up,” I ordered, standing first to prove how serious I was. “I’ve got some cleaning to do if you’re going to be staying up here.”
He held up the pen I’d already forgotten about.
No stealing. He was looking at me with a frightening display of raw emotions, so bold it was like the letters were stamped across his face — LOVE.
That was too much to handle, so I took the pen and went back downstairs to put it back where I found it.
Without looking at Fenton again, I said something about a broom and headed off in search of one, trying my hardest to catch my breath in that warm summer air.